Paintings

Paintings in acrylic, often with collaged text elements

Year of the (Counting) Sheep Acrylic painting on text collage on canvas, 6"x6"

2015 is the year of the sheep according to Chinese astrology– most say it doesn’t start until the Chinese lunar new year (the 19th) but others insist it begins today, on the solar new year. Happy new year whenever & however you choose to celebrate!

Maybe it’s because this is also the time of year when W-4s start turning up in the mailbox (when you’re a freelancer there’s a frightening amount of paperwork to keep up with), but when I started sketching out a sheep in honor of the coming new year, it decided to grow up to be an old-school accountant. (That ledger paper is actually how I kept my business records for way too many years. I am so very grateful to my brother Dev who finally enlightened me in the wonderful ways of Quicken!)

The figures on these particular papers, however, are years of the sheep past, present & future. And you may notice that the fat stacks of 100’s are also strangely sheep-centric (& in no way representative of my own cash flow, alas)!

The background text was scanned from an antique 8th-grade textbook, Iroquois Arithmetics.

Prints of this image are available in my Etsy shop. {Original SOLD}

Oneiric Acrylic painting on text collage on canvas, 6"x6"

Illustrating words for Anu Garg’s brilliant site A.Word.A.Day is a dream gig for me. I’d been a devoted fan for many years before I began this project, & he always chooses such wonderfully evocative words for me to tackle!

If you’ve been around for the last few years of AWAD art, you probably know that I wouldn’t dream of doing a week’s worth of illustrations without including at least one cat. The word “oneiric” instantly made me think of a sleepy white kitty floating blissfully in the clouds, accompanied by some favorite… friends, shall we say? It’s a peaceable kingdom in the sky! Round & round & round they go, conveniently assuming the shape of a letter “O.”

And of course they have drifted into my Etsy shop… come say hello! {Original SOLD}

The Juggernaut Begins! Acrylic painting on text collage on canvas, 6"x6"

Oh, you thought I was talking about the relentless march of the holiday retail machine? Nope, that’s last week’s news. Now it’s time to brace yourself for this year’s mighty, unstoppable A.Word.A.Day illustration series!

Today’s word is “juggernaut,” “a massive relentless force, person, institution, etc. that crushes everything in its path.”

Though the word’s origins lie in Hindu tradition, my thoughts went immediately to Godzilla, then back to earlier rampaging Asian monsters. A gigantic golden dragon could certainly destroy a city, while forming a fairly convincing curiotype letter “J”!

This painting & prints thereof are now available while they last* in my Etsy shop. So I guess now we’re back to the holiday retail theme. ;-) *Original art SOLD… wow, that was fast!

More A.Word.A.Day art to come! Tomorrow some kitschy cluckers clutching coffee. Can you guess the word?

Fallen Acrylic on collaged text on canvas, 6"x6"

Do you suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder? I do, & at this time of year, though I love the colorful turning leaves & the crisp weather, I always begin to feel anxious & guarded, knowing the gray days & long nights are coming.

This painting was inspired by a song that perfectly evokes that feeling, “Rake” by Optiganally Yours. (I’ve just added archival prints to my Etsy shop.)

I love the wildly twisted Arabesque shapes & subtle muted colors of dead leaves, even though they make me sad. The text in the background comes from a vintage Russian algebra book. Not sure why this seemed right for the subject, but it did!

By the way, I’ve experimented with several methods to help stave off the SAD. The most effective seems to be a daily walk outdoors, no matter the weather, no matter how short. If I miss a day or two the gloom comes rolling in.

Scary Acrylic & ink painting on collaged paper on canvas, 7"x11"

This painting has been an adventure in itself. I’d originally created the design around a wonderful quotation, but alas, I was unable to get permission from the writer’s estate, & that took the wind out of my sails for a while. Then it occurred to me that I could make up my own message, so I was back in action! It isn’t as perfect as the original, but it gets the point across.

Just as things were finally rolling again, I had to put the project on hold for quite some time to finish a massive rush job. Such is the freelance life. But I’ve been able to get back to it at last & I think it’s almost finished! Though I’m considering offering personalized messages in the bottom scroll area where I previously had the author’s name & now have “Enjoy the journey!” Anybody have any ideas?

Gashadokuro, the Giant Skeleton Monster! Acrylic on paper, ~9" x 7.75"

If you go down to the woods today, you’re sure of a big surprise… Gashadokuro, the giant skeleton monster! This huge & deadly creature likes to bite off human heads. Its appearance is heralded by a ringing in the ears. (I think I may have had some close encounters after performances by loud bands.)

Some of you may recognize this painting from the AlphaBeasts project on Tumblr & my old blog Oddments & Curiosities. I’ve just added prints to my Etsy shop— Halloween is closer than you think! Let’s just hope that Gashadokuro isn’t!

Acrylic on an illustration scanned from my copy of Frank Leslie’s Chatterbox, 1880-1881, size of original~6.5″x7.5″ Look closely to see the poor, tiny unsuspecting human in the picture– at the moment he still has his head, but I very much doubt his luck will last!

Goodly Creature Acrylic on collaged text & diagrams on six canvases, 6"x6" each

Finally I have prints of this piece available on Etsy! Individual parts or all six elements in a bundle, in case you’d like to genetically engineer your own example of Zoorobotany!

p.s. If you’re interested in how this piece came to be, there’s a slide show on my process page.

Dreaming Acrylic painting on map and music collage on canvas, 30" x 24"

You may have seen bits & pieces of this image before, but here’s the whole thing!

At last I am able to make prints of this available on Etsy. They’re not full-size (about half that), but much bigger than my usual small prints. (When I tried to reduce them to standard printer-paper size, you could hardly see the details at all!)

Unrelated note: today’s A.Word.A.Day painting is Ineluctable. A warm welcome to all of you who are arriving here from that site. (For the rest of you, if you haven’t yet wandered through this wonderland of words, head on over now!) And if you’d like to know more about the painting itself, see my previous post.

Malinger Acrylic on collaged text on canvas, 6"x6"

I am still wobbling from two very unpleasant bugs that have thoroughly sapped my energy, so it seems a cruel joke that the piece I’ve been working on illustrates the word “malinger”! I swear I have NOT been malingering, quite the contrary actually: working harder than I probably should have. No sooner did I begin to get over last week’s mysterious fevers than I got hit by a miserable chest cold, & I suspect that was partly because I didn’t allow myself enough rest for full recovery. So maybe I should learn something from this slothful slacker– he certainly looks a lot more comfortable than I feel right now!

Those of you who have followed my blog(s) for the past couple of Novembers can probably guess the series this piece is for. Otherwise you’ll just have to wonder for a week or two! ;-)

Original Painting & Prints available in my Etsy Shop

Fever Dreams Acrylic on coated paper, ~10" x 7.5" including frame

This is quite an old piece, but I just had to post it now, because I’m getting over a mysterious fever that went on for a week. I had a bunch of intense dreams, as well as a very strange waking episode when my hand was attempting to draw vector lettering on the pillow. I kept trying to stop it, but it wouldn’t give up. Mostly “R”s, forward & backward, for hours. It was one of the creepiest feelings I can remember in a long time. I was afraid I might truly be going mad.

Happily I am much better and the major weirdness seems to be over. Unfortunately I’m quite far behind in my work though, so my Halloween image will still have to wait. Maybe by Thanksgiving. ;-)

Apologies for the less-than-stellar scan– it’s framed with glass, so there’s a bit of blur & distortion. I tried to Photoshop it back to health, but just like me, it’s not quite 100%!

Leah Palmer Preiss ~ Curious Art

Art, Lettering, Oddments & Curiosities